(mid tempo beat)
- Where, where, where, where, where?
- Wow, oh my gosh.
I'm just sitting here, I see two shapes,
I thought it was dogs out there swimming.
It's a male and a female moose.
- Mario get the 600 lens. - Got it!
- I think we can get shots from the canoe.
Get down to the canoe, lets see if we can kayak out there!
Oars!
Go, go, go, go, go!
So right now there are two moose headed across the lake,
we're going to try to canoe out there and get some shots.
Okay, undo the canoe.
Oh, this is crazy.
So Mario's up there,
he's just going to set up the 600 lens,
try to get some close shots.
We're going to head out there,
and see how close we can get.
Man, this is going to be awesome.
Got 'em, got 'em, got 'em, I'll go up front.
Austin, you stay in the back.
(jungle music)
- [Coyote Voiceover] They say that Alaska's
the last true frontier in North America,
and if you've ever had the chance
to step foot along its rivers,
explore its vast forests,
or encounter its majestic wildlife,
then you certainly understand the truth in that statement.
- One thing about tracking wolverines
is there's always a good chance
you're also going to find the grizzlies.
And these tracks right here
are probably only about 10 minutes old,
and that means the bear is just head of us.
- [Coyote Voiceover] Haines, Alaska,
located on the southern edge of the state,
is what most consider to be a gateway
to the true north.
It's a very difficult location to film,
so for the Brave Wilderness crew and I,
this was lining up to be one of our wildest adventures yet.
And on just our second day,
we had an encounter with one
of the most iconic species in Alaska.
- [Cameraman] Coyote, what are you doing?
- We are rowing as fast as we can out in Mosquito Lake
to try to film two moose that are swimming across it.
- [Cameraman] So are moose good swimmers?
- Yes, very good swimmers.
Very good swimmers, where you want to get close,
but not too close,
because they could flip us out of the canoe.
Definitely want to stay a safe distance from them,
not to startle them,
but close enough to get some cool shots.
- [Coyote Voiceover] The Alaskan moose is considered
to be largest subspecies of moose in North America.
With males tipping the scales close to 16 hundred pounds,
and females weighing just over a thousand pounds.
They can be found all across the state,
and it is estimated there are over 200 thousand
of them in the wild.
- [Camerman] We were told by the people
that own the cabins we're staying in,
that they frequently see moose
swimming across this body of water.
We got home tonight from shooting,
Coyote spots two heads swimming across the lake.
Sure enough we're trying to get
as close as we can to these moose.
- Yeah, we're getting close.
- [Cameraman] We can show you, what they look like.
- 200 gallons and closing.
- [Camerman] All right, one of them is definitely a male,
because we got a male and female couple here.
Already got my first shot on them, there they are.
- [Coyote Voiceover] Moose typically do not
have social bonds with one another.
Unless they are siblings under the age of one year.
So it is likely that these two juveniles
are brother and sister.
- Okay, real slow moving up. - [Cameraman] So we got,
- [Cameraman] We got a male moose on the left
that has velvet.
- Okay, he's definitely spotted us.
- [Cameraman] Yeah, they're looking right at us,
and they're feeding.
- [Coyote Voiceover] And while males can be territorial
during mating season,
and females if they are still weening their calfs,
in most cases moose can be safely observed and admired
from a safe distance of around 100 yards.
- [Cameraman] This is like the perfect opportunity
to get close to a moose.
This is probably the safest way to do this.
- This will be the safest way to get close to a moose
because they can't charge us,
They're just going to kind of go about their business.
Eating all this vegetation that you have here in his lake.
All right now they aren't too startled.
Let's just kind of move up along side them.
- [Coyote Voiceover] As a natural defense,
especially when in water,
moose will often flee if they sense any potential danger.
And while it wasn't our intention
to disrupt them while feeding
they'd decided we had gotten close enough.
And they trotted up and out of the water.
- I mean you just want to keep a safe distance,
at any point time that male could turn around
to protect the female.
You see he's kind of staying in the back.
Let her go first.
That is either a juvenile male,
or one that's recently shed.
You can see he's got the smaller antlers.
Still velvet on the antlers,
that's pretty cool to see.
You'll see they're actually touching shore now.
You can see the back of the moose breaching there.
Look at how big they are.
They dwarf horses.
Wow, were you able to get a tight shot?
- [Cameraman] Pretty tight, oh man.
- Oh look at him go.
Woo!
That is incredible.
Look at the strength of that animal.
Boom, just like that, up into the reeds.
How awesome was that?
Seeing moose swimming right through our back yards.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild.
We'll see you on the next location.
Man, that was the coolest thing
that's happened this whole trip.
- [Coyote Voiceover] Being within 100 yards
we got the best shots we could,
and with the rain steadily falling,
we decided it was time to head back toward the cabin.
The moose waited for us to get near shore,
and then happily returned to the water
where they continued their feast of water plants.
If you enjoyed this On Location! episode,
make sure to subscribe to the Brave Wilderness channel
so you can join me and crew on our next wild adventure.
(animal sounds)